The Business of Water

* Who are the main Stakeholders of beverage companies such as Coca cola and nestle in this case? How would you prioritize their stake and how legitimate are the different stakes? The Civil society is the main stakeholders of these companies it consist of pressure groups, local communities, non-government organizations. The stake of the society can be prioritize by Relationship-building: Having good relationships – trust, mutual respect, understanding – are intangibles that develop and evolve over time, based on individual and collective experiences and interactions.

For this reason, we have to engage with stakeholders at a much as early as possible. Through proactive involvement of company with the stakeholders. Sharing Information: Communicate information to the stakeholders in the decision making process in the way that are meaningful and accessible, continue this communication. Stakeholder Consultation: Plan out each consultation process with the stakeholders Negotiation and Partnerships: For controversial and complex issues enter into good faith negotiation

Grievance Management: Establish accessible and responsive means where concerns and problems can be addressed Stakeholder Involvement in Project Monitoring Reporting: Informing to the stakeholders on environmental issues. The other stakeholders in the companies are very legitimate and the company holds obligation to address them, stakeholders like shareholders are the owners of the form and they consequently are the dominant group, suppliers, competitors etc. * Think of the role of Nestle in this case in terms of Carroll’s pyramid of CSR.

Which responsibilities does it live up to and where would you see space for improvement? Under CSR pyramid, Nestle comes in the Ethical responsibility that is the third part of the pyramid . These responsibilities oblige corporation to do what is right, just, fair even when they are compiled to do so by the legal framework. It consists if what is generally expected by the society over and above the economic and legal expectation. According to me Nestle have only focus on the economic responsibilities and has been concern about the shareholders acceptations than the society.

There is a wide space for improvement in the company’s policies towards society and environment. * Think of privatized water companies in this case in terms of the extended view of corporate citizenship as discussed in the chapter. What are the specific governmental roles they have taken on? Evaluate their performance from this perspective. The extended view of corporate citizenship as discussed in the chapter for the privatized water companies are about the “Civil rights” of the citizen . It reveals the governmental failure to addressing the important issues in the society.

In the case study some governments have acted in favor of the society by imposing fines and compensations, asking the companies to involve in different environmental programs for conservation of water also by imposing a ban on the bottled water in 12 municipal premises and supporting the corporate citizen actions. The actions taken by the government are effective but the private companies always find a way to manipulate the laws and to disguise the society by false advertising strategies and using other unethical ways to carry out their business.

Taking all this into consideration the governmental roles have not been so effective and many things have to be done to stop such false practices. * How do you evaluate the growing expectations and changing roles of the companies in the arena of water management? What are the consequences for accountability, transparency, and participation of stakeholders? Discuss the potential and the limits of what corporations can ultimately achieve in the business of water? Companies in the arena of water management are more inclined towards making profit, increase their market share and growth of the company.

The growing expectation towards these companies can be evaluated by considering the three areas they are Social Policies: the Company’s values, beliefs and goals with regards to its social environment. Social programmes: Specific social programs of activities, measures and instruments implemented to achieve social policies. Social impacts: social impacts can be traced by looking at concrete changes the corporation has achieved through the programmers implemented in any period. Recently companies are announcing goals to return to the environment.

The companies have now broadened the view of responsibility towards various stakeholders. Rather than being simply the agents of shareholders ,management has now started to take into account the rights and interest of all legitimate stakeholders ,Competing interest of other stakeholders for long term survival of the corporation ,instead of maximizing the interest for just one group at a time The consequences’ of accountability is that the company now has to acknowledgment and assume the responsibility for actions, products, decisions and are obligated to report, explain and be answerable for their actions.

Transparency: Analyzed as the impact of an organization associated or affiliated with its stakeholders. These impacts need to find out whether the organization’s activities are consistent with regard to the society’s interests, whether they are ethical and whether these activities are institutionalized. Participation of stakeholders: Increase in the participation of stakeholders helps during the planning process will lead to stronger, more durable management plans.

The corporations in the business of water have high potential to increase the profit and productivity provided they involve all of the stakeholders in the decision makings and facilitating them with the regular updates of the working of the company. If they are not successful in pleasing any of the stakeholders in the process they might lose the confidence of the market and consumer which will result in loss and complete shutdown.